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INDIANAPOLIS – Marcin Gortat had 31 points and 16 rebounds, John Wall scored 27 points and the Washington Wizards rode a 39-rebound advantage to a 102-79 rout of Indiana on Tuesday night, cutting the Pacers' lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals to 3-2.

Washington can even the series at home on Thursday in Game 6.

It was a stunning turnaround for a team that had lost the last three. But with Gortat matching a career high in points and posting a playoff career high in rebounds, Washington held a 62-23 rebounding edge.

David West scored 17 points for Indiana.

Washington used a 15-6 run to take a 45-38 halftime lead, extended the margin to 24 after three and to as much as 30 in the fourth.

Thunder 105, Clippers 104

OKLAHOMA CITY – Russell Westbrook scored 38 points and made three free throws with 6.4 seconds remaining, and the Oklahoma City Thunder overcame a seven-point deficit in the final 50 seconds to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 105-104 on Tuesday night to go up 3-2 in the Western Conference semifinals.

Westbrook was fouled by Chris Paul while shooting a 3-pointer with the Thunder trailing by two. After his free throws, Paul drove to the hoop, but Reggie Jackson stole the ball from him, and time expired.

Kevin Durant scored 10 of his 27 points in the final 3:23 for the Thunder.

DETROIT – A person with knowledge of the details says Stan Van Gundy has agreed to a $35-million, five-year contract to be the Detroit Pistons' coach and president of basketball operations.

Detroit gave Van Gundy the powerful combination of jobs on Tuesday, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The Pistons announced in April that they were not renewing Joe Dumars' contract, ending his 14-year run as president of basketball operations.

Van Gundy is taking over a team that has Andre Drummond, one NBA's top young centers, and money to reshape its roster this summer.

Owners meet on Sterling removal

NEW YORK – NBA owners discussed Donald Sterling's CNN interview and the plans to terminate his ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday in the third meeting of the advisory/finance committee.

A day after Commissioner Adam Silver repeated his desire to force Sterling to sell quickly, the committee met via conference call. League spokesman Mike Bass said owners reviewed the status of the charge for termination of the Clippers' ownership.

Silver or an owner has to formally charge Sterling in writing with violating Article 13 of the NBA's constitution. A hearing would then be held and require a three-fourths vote of the board of governors to force Sterling to sell the team he has owned since 1981.

Sterling criticized Magic Johnson in the interview that aired Monday, his first public comments since Silver banned him for life and fined him $2.5 million for making racist comments. Silver apologized to Johnson in a statement, adding that owners were working "as expeditiously as possible" on the process for removal.

However, any differences Brown had with his best player didn't get him fired for a second time by the Cavaliers.

That's the point made by general manager David Griffin on Tuesday, strongly denying that Irving had any direct involvement in the decision to replace Brown. The coach was dismissed on Monday – nearly a month after the Cavs finished a disappointing 33-49 season.

"Any, any insinuation that Kyrie had anything to do with this decision is patently false," Griffin said, his voice rising. "It's unfair. He was not counseled on this decision, nor was he counseled on the previous coaching decision. It's a completely unfair assertion and one that I want everyone to understand very clearly."